I’ve been thinking a lot about body language lately since I attended a seminar on it last week. It was interesting to notice the body language of people I was working with as we helped staff the event about body language. One lady fluttered her eyelids during one conversation she had with me. Hmmm, that one wasn’t covered in the seminar.

Here are some basics about body language:

Eye movement is very important. Looking up means the person is looking into their memory or to God for inspiration. Looking to the side means they are thinking about what other people are thinking. Looking to the right means looking to the future. Looking to the left means looking to the past. Looking down means looking inward.

If someone licks their lips, that means they are soothing themselves. It could mean they don’t feel confident in what they are telling you, or maybe even lying. Swallowing means they have something really important to tell you. Biting the lips also can mean they have something important to tell you.

I learned from Kirk Duncan last week that body language is not just about expressing what is going on in your mind and heart, but using it to attract more of what you want. In other words, it goes two ways. He said that when you stand with one leg bent that means you feel unstable, like you are on your last leg. During that same event I noticed that I wanted to do that a lot because I had to stand for long periods of time.  I thought, “That’s exactly how I feel in one area of my life! I do feel unstable!” Then he suggested to stay stable on both legs to attract more stability in your life. He said people will trust you more if you stand with both legs straight.

Kirk recommended the book What Every Body Knows: Secrets of an Ex-FBI Agent by Joe Navarro. I am going to delve into this book. It’s really fun to notice body language more and gently ask people what is going in based on what their body language is telling me. I think it’s fascinating that some body language is universal to all cultures and some is specific.

Sometime I want to do a body language class for moms of babies. Did you know that baby’s hands can tell you a lot about what is going on during breastfeeding? Baby’s hands held up by their face can mean that they are hungry. When they start nursing, the free arm goes down as the baby gets full. Here is more info:

http://media.clinicallactation.org/fall10/CLGenna.pdf